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T20 Cricket World Cup: Underdog U.S. Advances To 2nd Round—Thanks To A Rained-Out Match

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T20 Cricket World Cup: Underdog U.S. Advances To 2nd Round—Thanks To A Rained-Out Match

Topline

The U.S. men’s cricket team has qualified for the second round of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup after their match against Ireland in Lauderhill, Florida, was cancelled over heavy rain and thunder, paving the way for the team’s shock entry into the “Super 8” round of the tournament.

Key Facts

The U.S. vs Ireland game was scheduled to take place at the Broward County Stadium in the Miami-area city of Lauderhill at 10:30 a.m. local time on Friday before its cancellation, which sent the U.S. into the second round group stage of the tournament and eliminated Ireland and Pakistan from the competition.

With the game called off, the match was declared a draw, providing both Ireland and the U.S. with one point each for the group stage and bringing the U.S. team’s total points tally to five, helping the team secure a second-place finish in Group A behind India and qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

The “Super 8” round splits the world cup’s final eight teams into two groups of four—the U.S. group so far includes South Africa and the West Indies, which have won all three of their matches in the tournament so far.

While rules allow for a shortened game if a dry window opens up the persistent rainfall, wet conditions and standing water in parts of Broward County made the exception impossible.

Cricket games are usually played in roofless stadiums—like the one in Lauderhill—and the playing conditions state that play must be suspended and the pitch must be covered in the event of a downpour.

Lauderhill is under a flood watch until 8:00 p.m. Friday with temperatures reaching up to 86 degrees.

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Key Background

The tournament is the world championship of the “Twenty20” (T20) format—which is both the youngest and shortest version of international cricket, with matches usually lasting around three-and-a-half hours. This is the U.S. team’s first-ever appearance at the T20 World Cup as they received an automatic entry for co-hosting the tournament with the Caribbean nations who play under the West Indies cricket banner. Despite being unfancied, the U.S. team has had a fairytale run so far. In the tournament’s first game, the U.S. team beat Canada convincingly after a stellar batting performance by Aaron Jones. The team’s biggest win—and one of the sport’s biggest upsets—came on Thursday as they beat cricketing powerhouse Pakistan after taking the game into overtime. They lost their third game against India—one of the favorites to win the tournament and the sport’s financial powerhouse—but managed to put up a close fight on a New York pitch that was treacherously difficult to bat on.

Tangent

The U.S. team is made up of a mix of players who played professionally in other countries including India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa. The team’s main star with the bat, however, has been the Queens, New York-born Aaron Jones. The side’s pace bowling attack has been led by former India Under-19 and Mumbai player Sarabh Netravalkar—who played a key role in the team’s upset win against Pakistan.

Suprising Fact

Netravalkar’s exploits have earned him the spotlight both at home and in India. The 32-year-old Mumbai-born left-arm bowler works full-time as a “Principal Member of Technical Staff” at Oracle’s Bay Area office. Despite his stellar bowling even Netravalkar appears to have not anticipated the U.S. qualifying for the second round of the World Cup as his out-of-office notification on Slack says he would be away from work until June 17—the same date as when the first round ends. His employer doesn’t appear to mind his newfound fame, however, as Oracle has tweeted about his on-field success.

Further Reading

U.S. Cricket Team Beats Pakistan In Historic Upset At T20 World Cup (Forbes)

Team USA Could Cause More Upset At T20 Cricket World Cup—Here’s How They Could Reach Round 2 (Forbes)

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